#7 Gophers upset #4 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus

Minnesota won the match with bonus points from four of their wrestlers.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestling had an opportunity to pull out a big win on the mat on Friday night in Columbus against #4 Ohio State Buckeyes and they did it. Each team won five individual matches, but the difference was the Golden Gophers winning by bonus points in four of their five victories, while the Buckeyes registered just two such wins. The 7th ranked Gophers would take down #4 Ohio State 20-17. It was Minnesota’s first top-five triumph since winning at then-No. 5 Oklahoma State in December of 2022. Minnesota now moves to 9-1 on the season and 5-1 in Big Ten action with two home meets remaining before the Big Ten Championships in March.

Looking at the matchups between the ranked opponents on either side of the match, it was obviously it was going to be close and come down to who could hold serve, and who could earn some bonus points in their individual matches for the team score. The hoe team gets to determine the order of the matches, so the Buckeyes put the top Gopher wrestlers up first, so that OSU could come from behind and take a lead into the final few matches.

The duel kicked off at 197 pounds where #9 Isaiah Salazar for Minnesota faced off with #18 Seth Shumate. Both wrestlers picked up escapes but nothing further to send the match to Sudden Victory overtime knotted at 1. Salazar would fight and get a takedown with just two seconds left on the clock to pick up a 4-1 win and give the Gophers and early 3-0 lead.

That lead grew easily in the next match as #1 Gable Steveson had his way with # 9 Nick Feldman from Ohio State. Steveson scored a pair of first-period takedowns to take control early and would cruise to a 13-4 major decision to put Minnesota up 7-0 after two matches. Steveson has now won 61 straight matches and has won bonus points for the Gophers in every single bout this season. He needs just four more consecutive wins to eclipse Dustin Schlatter for the second most all time in program history with 65.

The meet then flipped back to the lower weights with 125 pounds up next. This was the strength of the Buckeyes matchups and they took advantage. They would win the next four bouts with a 9-0 major decision for #18 Brendan McCrone over #9 Cooper Flynn and an OT loss for #18 Tyler Wells to Ben Davino at 133. Suddenly it was 7-7 in the team scores.

One of the most anticipated bouts of the night came next at 141 pounds where Minnesota’s #8 Vance VomBaur would take on Undefeated #1 ranked Jesse Mendez for the Buckeyes. VomBaur did not waste anytime going after the top ranked Buckeye. The match would go to overtime tied at 5 and remain that after sudden victory. In the tiebreaker Mendez’s escape was the difference in a 6-5 decision. But the 8th ranked Gopher showed off his mettle. VomBaur became just the third wrestler in 22 matches this year to score more than four points against Mendez, and it was Mendez’s closest victory in his current 32-match win streak. The Buckeyes would win their fourth match in a row to extend their team lead to 14-7 at 149 pounds with #8 Dylan D’Emilio earning a major decision over the Gophers #29 Drew Roberts, 11-3.

Minnesota had some work to do in the middle weights to make the comeback happen and they did just that. The Gophers started their comeback at 157 pounds with#8 Tommy Askey picking up a major decision over Brandon Cannon. It was Askey’s team-leading 19th win on the season, his fifth in a row and his fifth by major decision this year. Minnesota cut the Buckeye lead to 14-11.

Minnesota would jump back in the lead after a great performance from #11 Andrew Sparts at 165. Taking on Brock Herman, Sparks led 3-0 after one period before blowing it open in the second. A quick escape from Sparks was followed by a takedown and four nearfall points, establishing an 11-0. Sparks finished him off in the third for his ninth tech fall of the year, one off the team lead, improving to 18-4 on the year. Minnesota suddenly was on top 16-14.

Ohio State would not be daunted as they took a 17-16 lead in the next match at 174. #5 Carson Kharchla earned a 7-1 win over #22 Clayton Whiting for the Gophers. That set the stage for the most anticipated match of the night at 184 pounds.

Minnesota would sent #4 ranked Max McEnelly to the mat to face Ohio State’s #19 Ryder Rogotzke. These two know each other well as they met in the 2023 Minnesota State High School Championship bout at 195 pounds where Waconia’s McEnelly pulled out a 3-2 win over Stillwater’s Rogotzke.

Friday night would not be as dramatic as McEnelly took over from the start and crushed the Buckeye. He picked up pair of takedowns in the opening period to pull out a large lead and then kept the pressure on.

He’s add another take down in the second and two more in the third to pick up a 15-5 major decision victory to push the final score to 20-17 and a big win for the Gophers. The redshirt freshman has been electric for Mnnesota as he picked up his fourth major decision of the year and earned his team-leading 14th-bonus point win. He’s 16-0 on the season and 31-0 in his career.

The Gophers come home to close out the regular season with two final meets. Minnesota hosts Purdue at Noon on Sunday before looking forward to the big one, a Valentine’s night showdown against #2 Iowa at the Pav. Sunday’s meet will stream on B1G+.